Parasite+3D

Jay Robnett Edtech 670 Dec. 2009 || ||
 * || =Parasite 3D=

Overview

 * The scene**: A warm muddy pool of water. You look around you and find yourself in the midst of hundreds of vile, revolting wormlike creatures thrashing all about you. The perspective changes, the camera pulls away and you realize you //**ARE**// one of those wormlike things. A nice voice announces that you and your siblings have just hatched and you must make a decision: stay in your warm pond, or try to climb out into the mud or the dense green foiliage that you see hanging over the puddle.

This simple decision is just the first of many that will shape your future as a parasite: stay in the water or get out? It may seem inconsecuential, but it will profoundly affect how your avatar - the parasite - will grow and develop. Will your parasite become an internal parasite of the stomach and intestines? Or will you guide it into the blood stream of its host to feed on red blood cells, or the liver? Perhaps it is better to stay on the outside of the unsuspecting host, sipping its blood as it goes on with its life. Each type of parasite is very different in shape and habits but they all have the same objectives: find a host, eat at the expense of the host (but without killing it), and making lots of new parasites.

Parasite 3D is a game that will allow the player to understand the complicated life cycles of various parasites by being the parasite itself. The game makes understanding the adaptions of parasites as personal attributes, their ways of spreading and entering hosts as logical solutions to problems made immediate and personal to the player. In this way the player becomes the learner, hopefully without noticing.

Instructional Objective
Students will understand the purpose of parasitic life - to feed off of the host but not kill the host. Students will know at least five adaptations evolved by parasites to invade a host and exploit its internal environment. Students will know at least three ways the parasite (or its progeny) can get from one host to another - transmission vectors. Students will learn the difference between external and internal parasites.

While there are no CA Science standards that directly relate to parasites, there is a standard for the immune system (for host defences) a. Students know the role of the skin in providing nonspecific defenses against infection. b. Students know the role of antibodies in the body’s response to infection.
 * CA Science Standard #10:** Organisms have a variety of mechanisms to combat disease. As a basis for under-standing the human immune response:

Learners
The game is specifically designed for upper level (junior or senior) high school science students in a physiology class. However, it is also usable for any health oriented student, grades 7 and higher.

The content will be necessarily graphic, as the consequences of parasite activity in the host are an important motivator (the uugh! factor). So there will be a warning to advise the teacher or parent before they choose to let a student play the game.

Context of Use
The game is geared for education with definite learning outcomes so it is therefore most appropriate for school use. However, it has always been a belief of mine that any game, if well designed, should be good for anywhere and anyone would want to play it even at home. To play in the classroom each player would have to have access to a computer and internet.

The game is designed to have multiple pathways or decision trees. Each game should take 15 minutes or less. Therefore it is designed to be played several times by a player. Hopefully, the player will become interested in the different possible decisions he/she could make and will want to play the game again to see how the parasite changes depending on his or her choices.

I would the like the game to be a stand alone entity. The student would need no particular knowledge to play the game. However, if the teacher wanted to give a primer on different types of parasites and their life styles the student should understand how the choices made in the game are modeled after real world parasites. After the game, the student should have acquired the basic knowledge outlined in the objectives which would be a springboard to a group or individual project on one parasite that has an impact on human health.

The game is designed to be a first-person role playing game, so it is primarily a solo game. I have often seen many kids watching one person play this type of game. I could also see two or three individuals playing on one game, it maybe more educational for them to discuss the choices they make and the results of their collective decisions.

The game will be designed for a 3-D virtual world game engine. In this class I will be using the Unity engine on a Mac laptop for development in this class. I will also be looking into other game engines that can be used with as many platforms as possible.

Scope
The game has a necessarily small scope. The player will be the parasite, guide it through the host and find a way to feed and reproduce without killing the host. All along the way there will be many ways for the parasite to be killed: by predators, by not finding a host in a certain time period or by the hosts defense system. Because of this the game could be very short. It is designed to be played multiple times in a short amount of time.

The branching of the decision tree will lead to three main destinations with several (about 3) sub catagories within each main branch: 1. External parasite (blood or skin eating) 2. Intestinal parasite (migratory or stationary) 3. Blood borne parasite (stay in blood or lodge in major organ)

Each sub branch would need its own "screen" or module. In addition there will be two insert screens to show important information:
 * 1) Showing the host's vital signs - health and annoyance. Low health and the host dies. High annoyance and the host's immune system is triggered or behaviors are stimulated that will get rid of the parasite.
 * 2) Showing the parasite's body form as it adapts to meet its needs and environment.

Object of the Game
The goal is to successfully navigate the parasite into the host, find a niche where the parasite can feed and find a method of reproduction. Once the parasite successfully reproduces and its progeny get out of the host the player wins!

Competing Products
The game that inspired this game is my son's PC game Spore (2008 EA games). This is a great simulation game but while watching my son play I felt it was a bit too broad and took too long. I was thinking how it could be "tightened up" and made more educational and fast paced and I hit on the parasite idea. There is a parasite game on the Nobel Games website as well but its scope is very narrow and is only an arcade style evade the WBC style game with little learning involved.

Design Details
//Universal Elements// The game will make use of the Unity 3D environment. The colors will be vivid but the characters must necessarily be cartoonish because of the graphic nature of the content which will include scenes in the blood vessels, intestines, stomach and other vital organs. One of the interest generating themes of the game is its shock or "ick" factor but too much realism would turn players off.

//Specific Elements//

//Technical Elements//

The game is to be developed on the Unity Engine, which seems to work on intel based Macs and Windows PCs. I believe that covers a wide enough number of users.

Motivational Issues

 * Interest:**
 * The game relies primarily of its shock factor. It is taking the player on a not so nice tour of the body with the intent to settle someplace and make a home.
 * Failure** (confidence):
 * There are many decisions to be made, in each set of decisions one will lead to death or "start over" (25% to 33% chance). This is a high failure percentage, but the idea is the game is so quick (5 to 10 minutes), it is designed to be played multiple times. In this way it resembles one of the old "adventure" games like the bear cave. The player would die multiple times but that motivated them further.
 * Replayability:**
 * In the parasite game there are multiple pathways to victory as well, and many type of parasite forms are possible to the winner depending on their choices. So winners will want to explore different avenues of success.

Design Process
The game actually started pretty much complete in my mind. The decision tree with its choices were necessarily scaled back as even the small sample shown here seemed to use up an incredible number of branchings. The one major problem was how to show how the host's immune system would fight back. I decided to go with the arcade style game that is based on real ways (though simplified) that parasites will change their surfaces to hide and produce antibody destroying enzymes. Thanks to the myriad parasite sites out there that showed me the way.